1st July 2009
Two groups of children from Moffat Nursery visited our
reserve today. Dan Watson (NTS) led the tours, commencing, naturally,
with showing the ducks that were in their usual location near
the main hide. Dan had set moth traps overnight so the next
stop was to inspect them and finding a considerable number and
variety of moths to intrigue the children. Eight of the species
found were not previously recorded on our reserve and have been
added to our lists. The tour then moved on for a pond-dipping
session to show the youngsters some of the many creatures to
be found in the waters. During a refreshment break, a stuffed
Greater Spotted Woodpecker was shown to the visitors giving
them the opportunity to see it at very close quarters. A young
toad and lots of 'froglets' were found, adding to the interest
of the visit. The visits closed with a quick tour round the
rest of the reserve and an opportunity to feed the ducks. A
Grey Heron was feeding near the main hide all afternoon, quite
unconcerned at all the activity - a wonderful opportunity to
see one! Despite the very hot weather, the youngsters seemed
to thoroughly enjoy their visit.
25th June 2009
Iain was down at the Quarry Reserve on Tuesday evening
and the female Tufted Duck was present with seven ducklings,
the family of four Canada Geese growing well, the pair of Oystercatchers
on the island had at least one, possibly two, chicks and a Moorhen
had three well grown young. On our own Reserve there were three
Teal and several Moorhen families with one fully grown juvenile
Moorhen which we must have missed.
21st June 2009
The results of the May survey have now been added and
can be accessed through our menu in the usual way.
We have heard of a number of cases where Crows have been damaging
or stealing fat balls and even instances of nut/seed feeders
being wrecked or removed. For the fat ball menace, one useful
trick is to suspend the fat ball inside an inverted flower-pot
such that the top of the ball roughly level with the rim of
the pot. As a guide, a 3" pot suits the small fat ball
while a 5" pot will hold the larger ones. The smaller birds
(up to Starling size) don't seem to mind at all but it certainly
seems to discourage the Crows and Jackdaws. Theft of nut/seed
feeders can be reduced by tying them firmly in place. Damage
by Crows normally only occurs once the feeder has been pulled
to the ground. Crows are not the only culprit, though - foxes
or badgers may also be tempted if the feeder is accessible so
hang your feeders as far out of reach as possible.
10th June 2009
Iain's report on the Croft Head/Waterside area up Moffat Water
on 1st June:
Plenty of Painted Lady and Orange-tip butterflies. In the nest
boxes were 6 pairs of Blue Tits, 4 pairs of Great Tits, 2 pairs
of Redstart and 3 pairs of Wren. Also, 6 pairs of Spotted Flycatcher,
2 pairs of Great Spotted Woodpecker, 3 pairs of Starlings (the
first for many years, when there were formerly many), 2 pairs
of Mistle Thrush and single pairs of Nuthatch, Treecreeper,
Tawny Owl and Reed Bunting. No Cuckoos at all, previously up
to four, also no Wood Warblers or Oystercatchers on the gravel
beds because they are too well vegetated. As for a lack of Cuckoos
I was proved wrong !! The following day Margaret Murray heard
one calling from the Well Hill area, the following day John
Smith heard one from his house at Greenwood Close and Margaret
Marcantonio heard them up the Crooked Road around Earshaig.
The full nestbox records for Dyke Farm Nature Reserve for 2009
are as follows. 17 pairs of Blue Tit, 6 pairs of Great Tit,
2 pairs of Treecreeper, 1 pair of Nuthatch, 1 pair of Wren,
1 pair of Spotted Flycatcher, 1 pair of Pied Wagtail, 2 pairs
of Starling, 6 pairs of Stock Dove and at least 5 Wasp nests.
Ten species using the nestboxes, including the Wasps, is pretty
good going. Garry saw a female Yellowhammer near the entrance
to the new site for the Moffat Show on the 9th.
6th June 2009
Rather short notice (they didn't make a very good job
of advertising this) but the RSPB is running a "Make Your
Nature Count" project. Object is to record a maximum count
of everything that 'crawls, hops, flutters and flies in your
garden' during a 1-hour period somewhere in the week of 8-14
June. Full details can be found on the RSPB
website. Take part if you can.
28th May 2009
May 23rd - Mr Phelps from Meadow Bank had stopped feeding
the birds on the bird table and had moved his feeders to a new
location and a pair of Blackbirds built a nest and are now sitting
on eggs.
May - 24th Hugh Thomson saw a pair of Yellowhammers in the Barnhill
area and while up at Camp Cottage watching the football John
McPhail had four House Martin nests and a pair of Blue Tits
nesting above his front door and at least three pairs of Swallows
in the bothy in the field.
May 25th - down at the Reserve there was a male Bullfinch at
the top end, the Nuthatches were busy feeding their young in
one of the boxes, Blue/Great Tits and Stock Doves were common.
The Sand Martin colony was busy and warblers were very vocal.
The young Canada Geese on the Quarry are thriving and the male
Tufted duck could be seen hopefully the female is sitting on
eggs somewhere.
There were lots of kids playing football in Park Circle after
school and when they departed a pair of Oystercatchers landed
and were feeding, possibly on worms brought to the surface by
the kids running around.
May 26th - A probable Nightjar, which would be good, north of
Beattock, will reveal more at a later date.
May 27th - Karen Fair from Reddings House, Annan Water reports
that she had great views of a Lizard in her garden, which is
a very good sighting.
23rd May 2009
Another reported sighting of a Little Owl, this time
on Old Carlisle Road, during the early hours of 19th May.
The April Bird Survey results have now been posted and can be
accessed in the usual way.
15th May 2009
Our Coffee Morning raised just over £2100. This
will go towards maintenance and improvements down at our Reserve.
Numerous young birds are now appearing in gardens & on
the reserves.
Following reports that viewers couldn't
see the graphs clearly on our bird survey reports, instructions
for a workaround have been added to appropriate pages.
The problem occurs only on Internet Explorer.
Users with other browsers (Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc) should
not have any difficulty in viewing and we recommend that one
of these should be used in preference to the Microsoft offering.
13th May 2009
An update on the latest bird sightings by Iain, Jock, Garry
and Dave Bradshaw.
May 3rd - Three Swifts over the town, Pink Footed Goose at
the Reserve and a male Brambling at Dumcrieff
May 4th - One Redpoll at Beattock was ringed,
May 10th - Moorland at Stidriggs, Beattock held Grasshopper
Warbler, a "drumming" Snipe and displaying Curlew,
with a dozen Redpoll in the plantation and two pairs of Wheatear
close by, while a male Redstart was singing towards Cauldholm
May 11th - On a run up to the Daer Water, the river with pools
and wet fields held a Greylag with 6 goslings, two broods of
Mallard ducklings, a male Teal, four pairs of Red Breasted Merganser,
a Cormorant, ten Redshank, 4/5 pairs of Common Sandpiper, over
150 Lapwing, 70 Curlew, 50 Oystercatcher, a pair of Whinchat
and 4 pairs of Wheatear. The Canada Geese had hatched 5 goslings
on the Dyke Quarry and there was a Mallard with one duckling,
two Tufted ducks, the Pink footed goose and 6 other Canada Geese
were in the area.
May 12th - Two unidentified "commic" terns were seen,
firstly at the Beattock roundabout and subsequently at the Dyke
Quarry in the evening.
7th May 2009
A few interesting sightings last weekend. Dave Bradshaw
had Woodcock & Pied Flycatcher at Bankend Wood. There are
two Tawny owlets in a nest box also at Bankend Wood. A single
Pinkfoot Goose on the main pond down at the Reserve. Two Waxwing
seen at Meadowbank Rise. First brood of Mallard on the Reserve,
believed to have started with 14 but down to only 11 by Monday
evening.
1st May 2009
A cuckoo was heard at Holshaw,Beattock on Tuesday 28th April.
Still Lesser Redpolls visiting two gardens
